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Geophagy protects stomach against toxins, parasites and pathogens

Most of us never considered eating the mud pies we made as kids, but for many people all over the world, dining on dirt is nothing out of the ordinary. Now an extensive meta-analysis forthcoming in the June issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology helps explain why.

3 Jun 2011

Analysis of Nubian-era mummies finds schistosomiasis spread from altering environment

Mummies from along the Nile are revealing how age-old irrigation techniques may have boosted the plague of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic disease that infects an estimated 200 million people today.

24 May 2011

Research sheds light on transmission of obesity among friends and family

Obesity is socially contagious, according to research published in the past few years. How it is "caught" from others remains a murky area. But findings from Arizona State University researchers published online May 5 in the American Journal of Public Health shed light on the transmission of obesity among friends and family.

7 May 2011

Growing stigma against overweight people around the world

Stigma against overweight people is becoming a cultural norm around the world, even in places where larger bodies have traditionally been valued. That's according to a cross-cultural study of attitudes toward obesity to be published in the April issue of Current Anthropology.

31 Mar 2011

Brain growth in babies linked to amount of time and energy mothers 'invest'

Brain growth in babies is linked to the amount of time and energy mothers 'invest', according to new research published today.

29 Mar 2011

Primates, including humans, share similar aging rates and mortality gender gap

A new study says chimps, gorillas and other primates grow old gracefully much like humans. The findings come from the first-ever multi-species comparison of primate aging patterns reported in the March 11 issue of Science.

11 Mar 2011

NIH awards CMU $1.2 million grant to analyze ethical, policy problems linked with DNA ID practices

Forensic DNA profiling has become a standard tool in the search for missing people in the aftermath of mass violence and disaster, but until now there has been very little effort to identify and analyze the major ethical and policy challenges associated with this new use of genetic technology.

3 Feb 2011

U.S. has no plans to end aid to Haiti despite disputed election, Sec. of State Clinton says

During a brief visit to Haiti on Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. has no plans to end aid to Haiti despite the unresolved presidential election, the Associated Press/Boston Globe reports (1/31).

1 Feb 2011

Opinions: Global health top foreign policy issue; Global food security; Opiate-substitution programs in Eastern Europe; Feed the future; Foreign aid lessons

In response to a story examining 2011's top foreign policy issues, Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, writes in a letter to the editor, published in The Hill, that "[g]lobal health was disturbingly absent from" the story. "Global health policy is at a critical turning point right now with the impending implementation of President Obama's Global Health Initiative, which will change our fundamental approach to health programs and policy," according to Sippel.

7 Jan 2011

MU researchers find 70% of Amazonian cultures practiced multiple paternity

In modern culture, it is not considered socially acceptable for married people to have extramarital sexual partners. However, in some Amazonian cultures, extramarital sexual affairs were common, and people believed that when a woman became pregnant, each of her sexual partners would be considered part-biological father. Now, a new University of Missouri study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that up to 70 percent of Amazonian cultures may have believed in the principle of multiple paternity.

11 Nov 2010

Scientists proves Yersinia pestis as causative agent for Black Death epidemics in European continent

The latest tests conducted by anthropologists at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have proven that the bacteria Yersinia pestis was indeed the causative agent behind the "Black Death" that raged across Europe in the Middle Ages. The cause of the epidemic has always remained highly controversial and other pathogens were often named as possible causes, in particular for the northern European regions.

11 Oct 2010

“Black Death” of the Middle ages blamed on bacteria

Black Death or plague that killed an estimated one-third of Europe's population in the Middle Ages has been ascribed to a bacteria called Yersinia pestis by anthropologists.

10 Oct 2010

Study finds source of tetracycline from bone analysis of Nubians

A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians shows that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. The finding is the strongest evidence yet that the art of making antibiotics, which officially dates to the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was common practice nearly 2,000 years ago.

3 Sep 2010

At least 3.5M Pakistanis have no access to clean water, raising risk for waterborne diseases

UNICEF estimates that about 3.5 million Pakistanis only have access to contaminated water, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday in a statement, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Approximately 2.5 million flood survivors now have access clean water (Gale, 8/26).

27 Aug 2010

Tanning protects skin from harmful sun rays

People who remain pale and never tan can blame their distant ancestors for choosing to live in the northern reaches of the globe and those who easily achieve a deep tan can thank their ancestors for living in the subtropical latitudes, according to Penn State anthropologists.

25 Jun 2010

Male physical competition central in winning mates among human ancestors: Penn State

Male physical competition, not attraction, was central in winning mates among human ancestors, according to a Penn State anthropologist.

14 May 2010

Ancient skulls and bones reveal anatomy of human evolution

Ancient mummies, skulls and bones galore-Indiana Jones himself would learn a thing or two at the American Association of Anatomists' (AAA; www.anatomy.org) Annual Meeting beginning April 24, 2010 in Anaheim.

29 Apr 2010

CycleBeads Conception Kit for women contemplating pregnancy

A scientifically-based tool developed by researchers from Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health to help women prevent pregnancy naturally, is now being used by a growing number of women to help plan pregnancy.

16 Apr 2010

IPS examines malnutrition, obesity in Latin America

Inter Press Service examines malnutrition and factors contributing to the rising rates of "obesity and obesity-related illness - such as type II diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, some forms of cancer and osteoporosis - in Latin America, and especially among the poorest sectors of the population."

7 Apr 2010

Insight into how human brain seeks religion

In the fractious debate on the existence of God and the nature of religion, two distinguished scientists radically alter the discussion. Taking a perspective rooted in evolutionary biology with a focus on brain science, in GOD'S BRAIN (Prometheus Books, $25) renowned anthropologist Lionel Tiger and pioneering neuroscientist Michael McGuire elucidate perennial questions about religion: What is its purpose? How did it arise? What is its source? And why does every known culture have some form of it?

9 Mar 2010